On January 18, 4617 (19), the Paris Peace Conference began at the Palace of Versailles. More than 1,000 delegates from various countries attended the Paris Peace Conference, including 70 plenipotentiaries, and the defeated countries Germany and Austria-Hungary were excluded from the negotiations. Russia was excluded from negotiations due to the separate peace with Germany in 4615 (17) and the Bolsheviks' seizure of state power.

The meeting was later changed to a "meeting of five", namely US President Wilson, British Prime Minister Lloyd Georges, French Prime Minister Clemenceau, Chinese Prime Minister Yang Du and Italian Prime Minister Orlando. Later, because Italy played a small role in the war, its contribution was almost negative, and its own foundation was thin, it was left out in the cold by Britain and France. So in fact, it became the "Council of Four", and they were the Big Four and the masters of the Paris Peace Conference.

In the course of the meeting, the Big Four had their own agendas. Britain wanted maritime supremacy, colonial supremacy, and it wanted the European continent to have equal strength, that is, continental balance of power. France wanted hegemony on the European continent. The United States, on the other hand, wants world hegemony. As for China, although they also hope to gain world hegemony, they know that it is simply unrealistic to attempt to achieve world hegemony through this peace conference. The Chinese emperor Wu Haoxuan had already instructed that if he wanted to break the old pattern and become the leader of the world, he would definitely not be able to fight a world war alone, and he would have to fight another world war. Therefore, China's main purpose at this peace conference was, on the one hand, to defend the interests of the empire, and on the other hand, to preserve as much vitality as possible for Germany, so that Germany could play a huge role in the next world war.

It is precisely because of this that there is a very interesting scene, in which each country will be against the other two. And they can join forces with either of the other two countries. Therefore, this meeting lasted for more than 5 months. British Prime Minister Lloyd George and French Prime Minister Clemenceau quarreled over reparations from the defeated countries.

"How about you France get 50% and we get 30% in England?"

"No, absolutely not! The Great War. France loses the most, and we deserve 58%. ”

"It's too much, we don't agree."

"Then we don't agree with that either." Clemenceau, who is 78 years old, is full of gray hair, but he is still as fierce as a beast, and he is worthy of his nickname of "Tiger Prime Minister". And Lloyd George was also entangled in every way, without sacrificing his own interests at all.

U.S. President Wilson and Chinese Prime Minister Yang Du had no choice but to maneuver between Britain and France, busy playing a round: "We in the United States don't want a penny." Both of you sacrifice something for the benefit of other countries. France gets 56 per cent, and the UK gets 28 per cent, is that okay? ”

"We don't want a penny in China!" Yang Du also said.

Clemenceau reluctantly nodded in agreement, but he made a new demand: "The Franco-German border shall be bordered by the Rhine: in addition to the return of Alsace-Lorraine to France, the Saarland of Germany shall also be ours!" ”

If France gets the Saarland, it means that he controls the most important military-industrial region in Europe and can dominate the continent in the future. That's right. Britain and the United States, of course, do not agree. They quarreled from January to April, and neither of them would budge. Both Wilson and Clemenceau threatened each other by withdrawing from the peace conference. Chinese Prime Minister Yang Du watched the play on the side.

After countless arguments and bargaining, the three of them got. Finally, the result was that Britain received a territory of 10 million people under the Mandate of the League of Nations, France received 7.5 million people, including Alsace, Lorraine, and Saar (France was only allowed to occupy Saar for 15 years before returning it to Germany), and Germany's colonies in the Pacific had already been transferred to China, so they were not within the scope of his acquisition this time. And the principle of "open door" in the United States was adopted. U.S. goods and capital can enter these regions, and opportunities are equalized, and everyone has a share of the benefits.

In addition to the distribution of spoils, the Paris Peace Conference had other agendas. The main thing is: a conspiracy to strangle the nascent Soviet Russia, and the decision to impose an economic blockade on Soviet Russia. Organize the League of Nations to oppose the Comintern founded by Ulyanov. The League of Nations directed the reactionaries of all countries to carry out a bloody repression of the revolutionary people. At the same time, the original German colonies were re-divided.

After months of squabbling, the countries came to an agreement and the final Treaty of Versailles was formed. The Treaty of Versailles consisted of 15 parts and 440 articles. Under the terms of the treaty, Germany lost 13.5% of its territory, 12.5% of its population, all of its overseas colonies (including German East Africa, German South-West Africa, Cameroon, and Togo), 16% of its coal-producing areas, and half of its steel industry.

At the time of the armistice on November 11, 4616 (18) of the Yellow Emperor Era, Alsace and Lorraine were ceded to France, and the borders of France before the Franco-Prussian War were restored. The treaty also stipulates that North Schleswig will return to Denmark after a referendum. Recognition of Polish independence and granting Poland a coastline. the return of the territories formerly belonging to Poland, including West Prussia, the Posen Voivodeship, part of East Prussia and part of Upper Silesia; To the east Silesia to Czechoslovakia. Danzig was administered by the League of Nations and was called the Free City of Danzig. ceding Euburn and Salmedi to Belgium; Klaipeda region to Lithuania. The Saarland was mined by France for 15 years, and its administration was held in trust by the League of Nations for 15 years, before a referendum was held to determine its ownership. Germany recognized Austria as independent and could never merge with it. Militarily, compulsory military service in Germany was forbidden. Recognition of Luxembourg's independence.

On the military side, the Treaty also imposed restrictions on Germany. The territory on the west bank of the Rhine (Rhineland) was occupied by the Allied forces for 15 years, and the Germans were not allowed to defend within 50 kilometers of the east and west banks. The army was limited to less than 100,000 men and was not allowed to possess offensive weapons such as tanks or heavy artillery, and the German General Staff was abolished. It is not allowed to have a navy, only 6 battleships with a displacement of 10,000 tons on the ship side, and it is not allowed to have submarines. The Air Force must not be organized. Arms are not allowed to be imported or exported, and an additional 26 per cent fee is levied on exported goods. Chemical weapons shall not be produced or stockpiled. In order to limit the number of people receiving military training, compulsory military service was abolished, and the length of service for non-commissioned officers and soldiers was extended to 12 years and 25 years for officers. In the Treaty of Versailles, it was stipulated that Germany, a defeated country, could not produce heavy machine guns. However, other countries have followed Germany's example in developing and developing heavy machine guns.

In addition to this, Germany had to bear responsibility for the war and admit crimes against the civilian population of the Entente countries. Former Kaiser Wilhelm II was tried as the first perpetrator of war crimes. Part of the German army was tried for war crimes, and some of them were sentenced to death.

According to the decision of the Entente Compensation Commission, Germany had to pay a total of 226 billion marks (about 11.3 billion pounds) in compensation, which was later reduced to 132 billion Reichsmarks.

The Treaty of Versailles was undoubtedly an extremely harsh treaty for Germany. The Germans, who had been looking forward to peace, were completely stunned. When the Germans learned of the treaty, anger and humiliation quickly spread throughout Germany, as if the Germans did not realize that they were responsible for starting the war and that they had been defeated, and at first the German government refused to accept the treaty, and the German navy expressed its dissatisfaction with the treaty by sinking its own ships.

The Weimar Provisional Government was caught in a dilemma, Chancellor Scheudmann resigned if he refused to sign a treaty, and then Army Commander-in-Chief Hindenburg declared that the Germans could no longer fight. On June 28, 4617 (19), the Entente issued an ultimatum to Germany, and the newly established Weimar Republic, President Friedrich Ebert, decided to accept the treaty.

Then royalists, nationalists, and former army generals began to question the treaty. The politicians of the Weimar Republic, the SPD, the Bolsheviks, and the Jews were regarded by them as traitors, because these so-called "November criminals" were vested interests of the Weimar regime and who "stabbed Germany in the back". This argument had a large market after the German surrender, as Germany had already won the Eastern Front and signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with the Russian Bolshevik regime, while the German forces on the Western Front remained in France and Belgium. But in fact the spring offensive of the German army on the Western Front was halted due to insufficient provisions, and in the eyes of critics this defeat was blamed on strikes in the rear, especially by the Jews. They ignored the fact that the belligerents were already involved in a general war, and that the local tactical superiority of the front could not reverse Germany's strategic defeat.

Although the Chinese Empire participated in the Paris Peace Conference, in the Treaty of Versailles, the Chinese Empire did not benefit the Germans. Even if the war reparations that Germany had to pay were extremely large, it would be a huge fortune if it could get a share of it.

However, for the sake of long-term interests, the Chinese Empire still gave up on demanding war reparations. Even so, during the peace conference, both the British and the French promised the Chinese Empire 5 to 10 percent of the war reparations. However, the Chinese Empire still gave up.

During the war, the Chinese Empire had already earned a lot of wealth by selling war materials, and there was no shortage of this money. In addition, the industrial development of the Chinese Empire has encountered a bottleneck until now, and a large number of advanced industrial equipment is needed, such as industrial machine tools. In addition, Germany's high-tech talents and high-level technicians are also needed by China. China's abandonment of war reparations against Germany would allow China to gain the favor of the Germans and gain the upper hand in the competition for talent.

It was precisely because of the performance of the Chinese Empire at the Paris Peace Conference that the Germans, who were originally hostile to China, not only forgave China, but also had a good impression of China. Scientists, academics, and skilled workers have made China their first choice for immigrants. (To be continued.) )

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